Competition is something that is introduced in a lot of areas to determine who is the best at something. This can go from a little hobby, to the Olympics. The idea of competing could be exciting, yet pressurising at the same time. This is because you have the opportunity to showcase your skills. Also, the chance to become successful from what may be just a hobby, or passion. You also can get a sense of internal success knowing you are the best at what you do. However, the chances of getting to the top are slimmer than the chances of failing. How would you deal with failing? Are you willing to risk competing?
This article will go over the pros and cons of competing. This includes success, pressure, loss, and passion.
Success
All sports and challenges have a sense of competition about them. It could be a tournament, gold medal, first place or a championship belt, but there is always a winner in these situations. This counts for even small things like football games at school during breaks, or other hobbies you feel passionate about. Everyone wants to win, and will do their best to do so, even if there are no stakes, or awards. Especially if it is something you like. Therefore, when you do succeed, even if there are no stakes, you still feel happy as you won, and beat the competition.
Once you add external success to it, it seems very worth it. Doing something you love, and are good at, whilst getting paid, and making a living off of it. One of the biggest examples of this is mixed martial arts, as so many different people with different fighting styles come to one sport, where everything is allowed, to prove they are the best fighters. This means coming up against all different types of challenges to ultimately get to the top., and prove your superiority.
Also, a lot of fighters grew up getting into a lot of fights, and found combat sports a healthier way to fight, and prove they are better than their competition. The feeling of knowing you are the best at doing something you love, could be the nicest feeling ever, and gives a sense of great accomplishment. It also motivates you to continue, and put more time into your hobbies, or career.
So you can do something you feel confident and passionate about, enjoy it, and become one of the best people at that given thing. Why not do it?
Loss
The chances of losing in competition are a lot higher than winning. This is as there is a group of equally motivated people, competing for one prize. If you are very passionate about something, you have to be able to come up with the reality that you could fall short, despite the confidence. That can always happen, and is something that is very understated. For every Usain Bolt, there are always gonna be 10 people who fall short. That is the harsh reality of competing. Despite training just as hard, and being just as motivated as them, not everyone could be the next Ronaldo, or the next Michael Jordan.
“The thrill, and the agony.”
This is one of the most important quotes in any type of competition you try, and reflects on your mental health, because, as good as it could feel to win, reflects on how bad it would feel to lose. A lot of people can take losses, and come back, but there are others who never recover. Some use a loss as a motivation, others could fall into depression because of it. Therefore, if you are performing on any big stage or challenge, you have to mentally be able to lose.
Pressure
Different types of people perform differently under pressure. Extroverts will often rise to the occasion, when there are stakes involved, or the pressure is high, as they crave the attention, and external success. On the other hand, an introvert may crumble under the pressure as they do not like pressure and attention. For things like writing, it is a lot easier, as it is just you and your thoughts you are working with on your own. It is only presented publicly.
However, doing something like acting in a theatre would be a lot harder, as you would be performing in front of a crowd. This means making a mistake is a lot worse, as there now is a crowd who just witnessed. If you are unable to control the pressure, you will get more nervous. Being more nervous could lead to you slipping up. This will increase the pressure as it will trigger a reaction from the crowd.
Competing in something that comes with a lot of pressure, could affect you mentally. This is due to the nerves, and could lead to failure. This could then make you reluctant to take risks in the future. It will make your fear of failure overpower your strive to success, and will stop you from trying anything again.
Passion
Most successful people got into their respective professions, for their passion in what they were doing. Very few did it for the money, or fame. You will not get far in any field, it is your only goal, as there is no sense of accomplishment. Being passionate about something you are competing in could lead to you doing the best you possibly can, and bringing your best performance. However, being passionate about something and losing could lead to reactions like Deontay Wilder, making a lot of excuses, and being unable to accept defeat. This will not mentally help you, as you will stay in denial, and will not be able to move forward in your life. An unnecessary barrier.
An extreme example would be Mike Tyson who bit Evander Holyfield’s ear, out of anger due to an accidental headbutt, in a fight that Holyfield was winning. If you do not control yourself mentally and be able to be calm under pressure, you could lash out, and become aggressive under bright lights.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can see that competition can aid your mental health. This is by enjoying doing something you love whilst also getting rewards from it. Also, the joys of being successful, and becoming number one. We talked about the other side of passion, and how it could also ruin your mental state if you lose, leading you to become aggressive, or just in denial. This will stop your progression, and will become an obstacle for you mentally to get past.
We also went through how pressure could make or break you, and the importance of managing pressure. Especially, if you are on a big stage, or with a big audience. This included how failure to manage pressure could lead to you crumbling, and potentially losing. Finally, we went over the ability to overcome loss, and whether you could deal with it, whilst in a competition.
Competing is a healthy way of putting your skills to the test against others who are equally as confident as you,. This is whilst also having fun. But, in order to compete, you need to be mentally ready for any decision, and to accept it. If not, you could fall into depression, or feel you are not good enough, which is not the case.
